Hi all It's been about 3 years since I was on here. Essentially my zed got the best of me, constantly misfiring, and I got sick of driving with one eye on the temperature gauge. I learned a lot during my period of z32 ownership, even to the point of successfully doing a plenum pull, but in the end the zed went under a tarp in the back yard where it stayed for 3 years... until now. In the past 3 years I've learned a lot, and now I'm armed with a lot more mechanical expertise, an engine crane, and a spare long motor. So if anything goes pop, it'll be an excuse for a forged rebuild rather than a disaster. Righto, onto my questions. I have set about systematically attempting to address each of the issues that bugged me when I was driving my z32, and one was the headlights. I have removed them to dismantle them and clean them, as in the tech threads. However, I'm concerned this may not be enough. I have seen HID conversion kits on Ebay for $185, including ballasts etc, but not sure if they're any good. Other kits (UAS etc) are around $400. My specific questions are: a) is there a half-way house, such as getting brighter bulbs for the existing setup? Does this provide a noticeable improvement? b) if I do choose to go HID, is the Ebay $185 option advisable? Are they all as good as each other or should I spend more? c) anyone got any pics of where to mount the HID kits? I have removed my headlights entirely, and space is a bit tight (unless I use the cavity where the airbox was, I'm running a pod filter). Sorry if I missed an existing post the search said "HID" was too common a term and threw up all the posts just on "conversion". Links to previous threads, especially photos of mounting, much appreciated.
I've seen hid kits sell for 250 350 400, and some much cheaper on ebay. The price dose not seem to have anything much to do with the quality of kits, and as far as I can tell the kits are similar if not the same.
lol almost sounds like you dithced your zed because the lights were too dim. I know that's not what you mean, its just funny as that's how it reads lol. Personally, my zed only ever had nice bright globes in and I never had an issue. No HID kit or conversion, and I've never had a visibility issue at night.
As Beaver says, price of the HID's seems not to matter much. I paid $90 (2.5 years ago) and $70 (1.5 year ago) and they are still working perfectly.Currently $50 or so on ebay. Buy 2 sets if you are worried about them blowing up. Next to the pod filter is a good place provided the cables are long enough.
Agree with Stef - I paid around the same as he did and the lights have been fantastic over the last 18 months. I got 4300K globes and the light is bright white. Higher colour temps start to get blueish, but a lot of people like 6000K. Above that they are more show than glow IMHO. The low beam conversion is easy and the high beam one a little more complex. Here is a pic of the LHS ballasts in my car next to the pod filter. I have the two units (high beam and low beam) back to back. Same on the other side for the RHS pair. The cable supplied was only just long enough to do this. If you search Pexzed's threads for HID you should find the link he found to a website that sells longer HID cables if you need them.
5000K is the most common OEM option. brightest light is achieved somewhere between 4500-6500K for HIDs. i think the more pricey (i.e. >$150) kits have dual output ballasts (forgot the industry term) for high and low beam from the one globe each side. In the mean time, i swear by phillips halogens. got for the white stuff the blue ones i think look tacky and wannabe-HID. nice and bright. i do a lot of back road night driving
I agree, I have Phillips +50% globes and they are fine, a noticeable improvement over standard even without cleaning the headlight assembly.
From my personal experience, angrybear's option above is exactly the way to go. 4300k is great because they aren't blue, so you immediately don't attract the same attention you would with blue lights (plus the BMW and Mercs seem to run closer to 4300k than 6000k). I also mounted the ballasts under the nose panel, though not quite as eloquently as he did (I have a temporary permanent solution using a combination of the mental brackets and cable ties). While you're at it, i'd recommend the high beam mod to keep low-beam on when high beam is on. I haven't done it yet (because I barely use high beam), but the moment you flick between high beam and low beam, you risk one of the headlights not switching back on... not to mention the delay in light. I bought cheap ebay ones for $70 originally. My original ballasts died, but I want to stress that I believe this was only because I didn't mount the ballasts properlly. I left them in the engine bay, despite my better judgement. Do it the right way first.
Should have mentioned the Pex mod - that is the way to go. Takes 5 minutes. Driving down a deserted country road late at night with 4 HIDs going? D-light-full!
